Better Company
by Yuksu
Summary: Sometimes the path of the wanderer can be your only option when you've lost everything you ever had. But who cares when there's good friends to be made and great drink to be had! Feat Yasuo.


It had been a long time since he had been around this many people. He'd gotten used to the wanderer's road, the solitude comforted him somehow, but he was definitely willing to trade that away in the hopes that he would be able to finally get some answers.

The League hosted such a multitude of power these days it was hard not to be drawn to its wonderment. Yasuo didn't really carry anything with him so the couriers had little to do upon his arrival and they had learnt their lesson about trying to take his sword and instead lead him to his designated apartment.

For years Yasuo had scraped by each day, doing whatever he could whenever he could finding lodging in barns and just by the side of the road. And of course drink, wherever he could scrounge it or scam it or win it until he found himself at the foot of the Institute of War.

Hard living had moulded him into a hardened warrior, with nothing to his name he had nothing he had ever grown attached to and here they just threw him into a cushy little apartment after he had proven his strength with all the luxuries a lord might be offered. _It was amazing. _He hadn't felt a bed so soft in such a long time and running water, a meal _every _day, maybe three! A free bar. Oh, was he going to take advantage of that.

Answers could wait a while he reasoned to himself. He would, of course, need to get his bearings and settle in before he did any prodding around. Food could wait, there was a _free _bar_._

* * *

"...up there? I have no idea, I guess he's the new guy we heard about."

"He's not exactly what I expected when they told us he was the living wind or something like that..."

Yasuo growled which caused the admiring crowd to scatter before he could do something unspeakable to them, new champions were always unpredictable. In reality he was just really hungover and their loud yammering wasn't helping his headache at all. How he gotten up in a tree was a mystery but this clearly wasn't his room.

"Hey, you there!" He called and a small blonde girl jumped, wondering how he saw her behind her light barrier, she should have been completely invisible.

"I... umm, yeah? What is it?" She nervously replied. _Why had everyone else run away now?!_

"There's no point in hiding, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just wanna know where the hell I am." Yasuo half fell out of the tree but still managed to somewhat gracefully land on his feet.

Lux relaxed a little bit after realizing he was clearly not in a decent state. She moved to help him up, but quickly backed away when he rushed to throw up in a nearby bush. "Much better..." He muttered to himself and looked again at Lux, still expecting some kind of a reply while she just looked at him in disgust.

Lux cleared her throat in an endeavour to remain composed. "Well this is the Institute of War gardens you've just thrown up in."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had to get _acquainted _with the Institute you know? Make sure everything lives up to the rumours." Yasuo chuckled to himself. Lux laughed out of politeness but still couldn't shake the image out of her head. "Now I would greatly appreciate it if you could show me around the place, I'm new here and don't really know my bearings."

"Oh there are people who can do that for you we just need to go to the reception-"

"No, no I'd like you to do it, you seem nice enough, it'd be no problem at all for someone of your calibre _Miss Crownguard_." Lux couldn't remember giving and leapt away when he went to steady himself on her shoulder.

"Uhh... sure, right this way." Lux lead on more nervous than she had been in a long time. The truth was though Yasuo had simply heard them all talking below him while he "slept" and saw her go invisible to observe him right below the tree. He just enjoyed toying with people, the nosy ones were always the easiest to scare and rumours could only serve his purposes.

* * *

He got called within a week. The first match went ok but Yasuo had been given some warnings such as not coming to a match drunk, not falling asleep during a match and not deliberately trying to agitate ninjas. He was beginning to regret coming here. But other than the strict regime he now lived under, far from what he was used to, the pros almost definitely outweighed the cons and he would be damned if he wasn't going to go another day without three hearty meals, let alone a week without one.

The company wasn't bad either, he'd made friends with some of the regulars at the bar, a large man called Gragas who could hold his drink better than anyone he'd ever met and his friend, an arrogant, cocky man in a strange purple suit, who also had the best sense of humour. There was something he needed to do though. Someone he'd met during the match, they didn't speak, but he knew he had to.

"What do you mean new policy?"

"I _mean_, every day you and your friends drink the bloody bar dry!" The Bartender argued.

"But that's barely anything at all, how are we expected to get drunk on that." But there was no reasoning, Yasuo, Gragas and Jax all sighed in disappointment at their now limited alcohol limit. It wasn't Yasuo's fault, they all knew it, some individuals had complained about the group having _too much fun_. It was probably that Sheriff, she was so uptight, but maybe she did have a fun side considering how rambunctious her girlfriend was. The Yordles? No, they enjoyed their drink as much as anyone else... Maybe it was that pale demon woman in the corner sipping her drink in solitude. It had to be.

Nudging Jax, Yasuo pointed to a white haired girl meditating out in the garden. "Is her name Riven? Do you know?"

"Yeah that's her, the scourge of Ionia I suppose you'd call her, but be warned the League doesn't like you picking fights outside of the fields and you wouldn't be the first Ionian to try and kill her in here." Jax cautioned.

"It's fine, I only want to talk to her." Yasuo patted his friend on the back and proceeded to walk up to the girl named Riven.

Without even opening her eyes Riven manifested a disproportionately large sword out of nowhere and thrust it towards the wanderer. "I don't like it when people try picking fights with me, especially when I'm meditating and if you want me to atone for something, I'm afraid nothing I could do will ever be enough to wipe away my sins."

Yasuo laughed heartily sitting down in front of the woman. "Relax oh mighty _Scourge of Ionia._" Riven grimaced at the name dropping. "Oh... sorry I didn't mean to offend, I meant it all in jest, sorry, again. What I wanted to say is I'm looking for a sparring partner and I've seen you fight, you're good, I was hoping we could get along?"

Looking him up and down now Riven could find no fault in his character, he seemed entirely genuine. "Very well, but we can't use our actual blades, come with me to the training grounds."

* * *

After the spar was done, Riven and Yasuo were both exhausted and sweating under the warm evening light. "That was a good spar, I knew I had you pegged Riven!" Yasuo laughed and patted Riven on the back in a friendly manner. "Your technique though... It's so unusual, in an impressive way. Even more so considering you're from Noxus."

"Well... I suppose it is, thank you." Riven smiled at him, something she hadn't really felt like doing in a long time. Here was someone who actually treated her like a human being.

"Come on then, after that I think we need to get some drinks!" Yasuo beamed his biggest grin and began to lead Riven towards the bar.

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"I...uh...I don't... drink." Riven replied nervously.

"Well let's fix that, come on, first rounds on me."

"I thought the bar was free?"

"Uhh... yeah... It was."

* * *

**Round 1**

Yasuo and Riven sat on a table on their own, Yasuo draining his cup and Riven carefully nursing the intriguing beverage.

"You know, Riven, We're a lot alike you and I, both Exiles from our countries, after the war. Tragic really."

"Yes I suppose we are, is that why you approached me in the first place?" Riven was glad she finally had someone she felt she could relate to, someone who might understand what she went through.

"That's one of the reasons, yes." Yasuo replied and left it at that.

**Round 3**

Gragas had come over to join them momentarily. "Come on Riven, you don't want that horse piss Fluffy drinks do ya? Try a real drink, this weed could barely hold a drop but I'm sure you could manage it no problem!"

Glancing at Yasuo who was shaking his head vigorously Riven politely declined.

"Huh, suit yourself then missy, anyway I'll get the next round."

**Round 6**

Riven didn't know what all the fuss was about, she felt fine, alcohol was nothing, but she could've sworn she used to be better at darts...

"Good shot Riven you almost hit Vayne there!" Jax roared in laughter as he proceeded to miss every single shot at the dart board.

Yasuo was taking a strategic nap but he would be back before the next round, it was his turn after all.

**Round 8**

Gragas and Jax had gone to say hello to the porcelain chambers so Yasuo was left to quiz Riven. "Who's that red headed girl you've been making eyesh at all evening, Roven."

A flustered Riven averted her gaze. "Huh? Me? I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't staring at Katarina."

"She's from Noxious right? Did you two have a thing or something back when... you know?"

"What us? No definitely not, I mean I knew her, but who didn't she's like a General's daughter so she was always around, we met a few times, spoke some times too, but we never. Why was she looking at me or something?"

"She's deliberately trying not to, but she keeps on glancing over here out the corner of her eye..."

"You're awfully observant aren't you? Are you always like this?" Riven was beginning to feel awfully warm under her light get up.

"Well when you're on the road for such a long time, you have to pay attention at all times, you never know who might creep up on you. You should get that."

"Yeah, I suppose I would, but here you don't need to worry nearly as much, you can feel safer here."

"Heh... Old habits die hard though."

**Round 10**

"So are you going to go and talk to her or what Riven?" Jax urged. Not because he had a bet with Gragas whether she could but simply because he was interested in the well being of his new friend.

"Yeah go on, Riven you can do it, just like we said." Yasuo agreed.

"I dunno... She probably hates me so there's no way-"

"Well well well, what do we have here. A Murderer and a Traitor. I don't know who's worse out of you two if I'm honest." The one addressing them revealed himself to be Master Yi who naturally held more than a little bit of hatred for both of them. "No, I know, it's the _coward _who couldn't even accept his punishment after betraying everyone who ever loved him and turning on his country. At least Riven here used to punish herself for her crimes, but you've offered no atonement whatso-"

It was at this point Riven snapped, this nice man had saved her from her self loathing and treated her so well and this big stupid idiot had only to come over and try and ruin their nice evening. "Now listen here you big...stupid... seven eyed freak, why don't you go back to little room where you stare at the wall while thinking of all the ways you can make people feel shitty while ignoring your own problems and leave us to our fun!"

Riven had said her piece, as eloquently as she could in her inebriated state and just as Yi was about to respond in some way Gragas and Jax both stood up and he decided now would be a good time to leave.

"Wow, thanks for that Riven, that was really cool. I think I owe you a drink for that!"

**Round 12**

"Ok I'm gonna do it." After the scrap with Yi, Riven was filled with overwhelming confidence, although it could just be the alcohol, not that she'd know at this point.

Walking up to Katarina, the assassin turned wide eyed seeing who was approaching her. "What are you doing here _Exile?_" The red head snarled._  
_

"I...uhh just wondered how you were doing? We haven't really spoken since I got here and we used to talk a bit back when..." Riven felt suddenly sheepish, maybe this wasn't the best idea. "Never mind I'll just-"

As Riven tried to hastily retreat she slipped on the floor and fell flat on her back. Several patrons made to help her but Katarina shooed them away picking Riven up on her shoulder and leading her away. "Come on Riven, you've had enough to drink."

* * *

"I thought you hated me?" Riven mumbled as she was led back to the dorms.

"We were kinsmen once, it's only right I should help you now." They were silent for most of the way back before Katarina started to realise Riven was drifting off to sleep and she sighed.

After getting back to Riven's room, the assassin kicked open the door and made their joint way to the bed. Trying to lay the drunken girl on the bed was difficult and in the end Kat just collapsed them both on it but before she herself could get up Riven wrapped her arms around Katarina's waist and squeezed tight.

"What are you-" Katarina started but it didn't matter Riven was already fast asleep and she couldn't bare to wake her up now, _at least that's what she told herself. _

* * *

The next morning Yasuo awoke in the gardens again, this time he had been sleeping on a bench though but he managed to spy a red headed woman leading Riven through the gardens, the white haired swordswoman clearly worse for wear. Hangovers were evidently not her forte.

"Hey Riven what's up? And this is...?"

Riven couldn't really answer, she just needed fresh air at the moment so the other woman answered for her. "Katarina." She replied sternly in a way which needed no reply

"Right..."

Stumbling off again he gave Riven a wink when Kat wasn't looking and the exile grinned like a schoolgirl in love. Eventually Yasuo found his way to the bar. Walking up to his friends he high-fived Jax and Gragas emptied his coin purse into the weapon master's hand.

* * *

Author's Note: I wrote this after a whimsical prompt from Raptorbane's livestream last night. I hope it is terrible to read, but entertaining nonetheless.


End file.
